One of our fellow Arcadians, senior Alex Dang, was recently a qualifier for the finals of the United States National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO). The USNCO is open to all high school students who want to achieve excellence in chemistry. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has been sponsoring this program since 1984.

For one to qualify for the USNCO competition, they must undergo a series of smaller competitions in their state. The first is the Local Chemistry Olympiad Competition, where the participants will either be selected for the national exam by the ACS Local Sections or will have to try again the following year. Participants can prepare for the competition by reviewing past Local Exams.

The next competition students participate in, if applicable, is the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam. This exam involves three parts administered to more than 1,000 students, and participants can use past national exams to study. The 20 top-scoring students from the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam are chosen to attend a study camp where they will have to undergo rigorous training for two weeks. Then, based on their performance at the study camp, four out of the 20 top-scoring students will be chosen to represent the U.S. at the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Alex made it to the final round and studied at the chemistry camp earlier this summer for two weeks before saying goodbye to the competition. At the camp, he would start his day with a Zoom meeting, with one-hour speeches given by a variety of guest speakers, such as John Warner, one of the founders of the field of green chemistry. These speeches were then followed by a lecture that condensed years of college-level chemistry courses into two hours. Afterwards, he would have a short lunch break, which was followed by arduous exams that would determine if he’d qualify to be on the USNCO team. Once he finished these exams, he’d end his day with hour-long problem-solving sessions set up by their mentors.

Alex adds, “The best times of my camp experience: the social events. It was one thing to be having fun in the intense camp environment; it was quite another to do so with extremely bright, like-minded peers. These social events often weren’t about chemistry but were more mundane things like playing Skribbl or CodeNames games or watching a movie together (which ended up being one of the best I’ve seen in awhile).”

Although he didn’t make the USNCO team this year, his goal is to try again for the next competition and attend the camp physically to take in the whole experience. He would also like to give a special thanks to Ms. Mynster.

Alex says, “Without her amazing capabilities and the fruitful environment created in her class, [he] could not [have] come close to achieving this.”

We are beyond proud of Alex Dang and can’t wait to see what else he accomplishes in his future. We’d also like to congratulate Gordon He Guo, who placed among the top 150 students in the nation and qualified for High Honors in the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad. Congratulations!

Photo courtesy of USNCO Camp Mentors